Saturday, September 11, 2010

I haven't been lazy i swear..

Lack of updates? Yes. There are a few good reasons for this. Let's start with my laptop dying ever so painfully.

It started about 45 days ago, I noticed my laptop lcd just shut off on its own. I thought it was the screen saver. But no. In fact, it wasnt off at all. I could make out a very faint image of my desktop and windows that were opened before it descended into darkness. Uh oh. Looks as though something is dying. Quick fix: ok so i'll dial down the brightness to about half way and see how that goes. Success: i've added a few more weeks to the thinkpad's life.

Two weeks later, after having to work on mid-brightness, it turns off again, rather constantly too. Every 20 seconds at some points. So I dial it down to the very lowest setting. At this point I am squinting at my dim laptop. The display has a tint of red and orange, and makes a very high pitched buzzing sound.

Two weeks later, on the lowest settings, in the middle of painting a commission, it turns off again. Every 10 seconds or so it turns off, refusing to stay on. Solution: I bring the thinkpad to work and hook up an old CRT i found by IT's desk. Success! I am using my laptop with a clear, bright, albeit oversized display.

I am happy I found a fix, and am thinking maybe i'll pick up an LCD external in a few days time so i can use it at home. I shut down the laptop, and bring it home.

I plop down into my work area the next day, open my bag, excited to start research for a new project. I press the power button, and decide to make a cup of coffee (my laptop takes a while to boot up). I come back and notice that the screen is still black. Even with the external mammoth of a CRT hooked up to it, the screen shows black. I power it down and restarted it hoping that maybe it's just glitching. This continues for about 2 days.

GG laptop.

So for the past month i've been using my girlfriends x201 (great machine, but TINY DISPLAY at 12") to do commissions, check email and play starcraft 2. All very difficult for me to do on such a small screen. i ACTUALLY quit a game of SC2 by accident because of the small keyboard.

I am currently working on a few more magazine illos, on this tiny laptop, and needless to say I am very excited to get my new 15" laptop in about a months time. 'Til then i'll do what i can to get some art up on here.